Jlin: 5 Albums That Changed My Life

July 31 2017 by Brenna Ehrlich

Jlin: 5 Albums That Changed My Life

July 31 2017 by Brenna Ehrlich

Gary, Indiana, electronic musician Jlin owes a debt of gratitude to her mom when it comes to her musical taste. “I got into music — because when I was younger and I used to do chores — that’s what we did; we used to listen to records while we were cleaning the house,” she tells TIDAL. Her mom also helped her find her distinctive sound when she asked her daughter to think about what she wanted to sound like, aside from genres and trends.

“Music was my escape,” Jlin (a.k.a. Jerrilynn Patton) adds. “I wasn’t running from life in the sense that I was getting in trouble, getting locked up, going to jail, not like that. I was running from life because I had gotten bullied when I was younger so I had confidence issues.”

As a gesture of thanks, Jlin recently bought her mother a brand-new record player for her birthday. “The only reason she wanted it was because my records are on vinyl,” Jlin says, although she does stress that her mom has quite the record collection, the better for chore-fueled music sessions.

TIDAL caught up with Jlin at the 2017 Northside Music Festival — in the wake of her new record, Black Origami — to find out more about the music that made an impact on her.

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Rachelle Ferrell, Rachelle Ferrell

That record changed my life for sure because I was introduced to it at such a young age — Rachelle Ferrell, that’s like my mother’s era. My mother used to play records in the house all the time and CDs. If I’m not mistaken, [Ferrell] has so many different octaves.

I was fascinated when I first heard her sing, because if you ever watched her sing — whether it was on the Internet or you saw it live — you can see her literally accentuating every note through her facial expressions. And I find that very fascinating. It’s beautiful to watch.

So Addictive changed everything. I just felt like I could be as abstract as I wanted to be when I first heard Missy. My favorite track off of So Addictive was…actually two tracks: ‘X-Tasy’ and then ‘Lick Shots.’ I have all of Missy’s stuff. Even when she was underground.

So Addictive, I remember I bought it when I was graduating from eighth grade and we were on a class trip to St. Louis. I heard that record and I was like, ‘That’s it. She’s got me hooked.’